COLOUR IN FLOWERS. 65 



— that which culminates in blossom — was checked and unable to 

 develop itself. Then there came two or three sunny days ; the con- 

 ditions were changed and development went forward. The protoplas- 

 mic matter of the chlorophyll cells in the perianth was rapidly used up 

 in the manufacture of new cellular tissue, and the supply being 

 only sufficient for this purpose, the cells of that tissue were left empty, 

 or filled only with a watery juice. Such tissue is necessarily white. 

 Had the supply of protoplasm been larger, the surplus would have 

 given colour to the perianth. But that it was not in the nature of 

 that bulb to deposit an excess of protoplasm in the perianth was known 

 beforehand by the papery whiteness of its outer scales. 



METEOROLOGY OF THE MIDLANDS 

 THE WEATHER OF JANUARY, 1881. 



BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 



The month opened with fairly high pressure and a rise in 

 temperature, the maximum value occurring at many of our Midland 

 stations, (and in the N.-W. and S.-W. of England,) between the 1st and 

 the 4th. The "great frost" set in generally on the 7th, being 

 developed by the formation of a high barometric crest, and the 

 establishment of a well-marked anti-cyclone in the northern districts 

 with its attendant conditions. On the evening of the 7th the barometer 

 gave way, and although depressions and the cyclonic type of weather 

 followed, notably on the 12th and 18th, (the latter day being marked 

 by terrihc east-north-easterly gales and snowstorms that will long be 

 remembered,) the frost still continued, fostered by the northerly and 

 easterly winds travelling round the west and north sides of the 

 depression-centres. The lowest temperatures occurred about the 

 loth, and several readings below zero were taken at our own 

 stations. The rivers, canals, and brooks were in places hard 

 frozen, and during a whole week the Trent at Nottingham could 

 be crossed with perfect safety. A brisk fall of the barometer 

 set in on the 24th, and at length, on the approach of a deep cyclonic 

 ring from the Atlantic, temperature rose from depths below the 

 freezing point ; and, with light southerly winds circling round the east 

 side of the depression, which crossed the Midlands on the 28th, 

 followed in its wake by a deeper trough on the 29th, the great period 

 of frost closed, having, by night frosts, lasted without break from the 

 6th, a period of twenty-three days. Hence, after the excessive cold, 

 universal fog prevailed, the maximum temperature was registered at 

 other Midland stations, and so the month closed. At Tenbury the 

 mean temperature was 10-.5 below the average, the lowest recorded in 

 a period of more than fifty years. At Moseley this was the coldest 

 month registered, there being no record of any so cold since January, 

 1820 ; the mean of twenty-one days, ending the 27th, was only 23'2. 

 That the cold largely resulted from excessive radiation, is proved by 

 the astonishing differences in temperature between hill and valley 

 stations in close proximity. For instance, on the 17th, at nine a.m., the 

 dry bulb at Oakamoor, in the Churnet Valley, read 3-6 ; at Farley, 

 barely a mile distant, E. by S. on the left watershed of the river, and 

 290ft. above, the simultaneous reading was 164 ; and on Beacon 

 Stoop, 576ft. higher than Farley, and but 2£ miles distant, the value at 

 nine a.m. on the 17th was 20-7. Deficiency of ozone between the 7th and 



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